Don't
like this blog? Probably best to keep it to yourself, according to
Keith Wagstaff. Someone is always wrong on the Internet. Don't let it
get to you.

Facebook, blogs, Reddit, the comments section of a website — no
corner of the Internet is free from online rants. But while venting
online might feel cathartic, it could actually make you angrier in the
long run, according to a new study by researchers at the University of
Wisconsin-Green Bay.

As any online journalist knows, there are
certain people who seem to revel in anonymously venting their anger. But
what beleaguered writers may not be aware of is that there are two
kinds of venters, according to the study: Those who feel relaxed and
calm after reading and writing online rants, and those who become sad
and upset.

The study did not determine why certain people feel
better after indulging in outrage, but it did find that those people
eventually ended up angrier.

Not only that, but the people who
felt compelled to share their rage through a series of tubes claimed
that "they experienced frequent anger consequences, averaging almost one
physical fight per month and more than two verbal fights per month."

So
yes, your suspicions were correct, that person insulting you every day
on your blog probably does have an anger management problem.

The study prompts the question: Is there any benefit to writing seething rants online?

Not really. This jibes with past studies on Internet "discourse."

"At
the end of it you can't possibly feel like anybody heard you," Art
Markman, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin,
told Scientific American last year. "Having a strong emotional
experience that doesn't resolve itself in any healthy way can't be a
good thing."

In the end, seeking out a flesh-and-blood human
being to hash out a political argument with will probably make you feel
better than writing in all caps on the Internet.